A Word of Advice
by AnbarElectrum
Summary: It's the day before the trial of a man Apollo's looked up to since boyhood, but something's bothering him. Something he feels his mentor might be able to help clear up. One-shot. Light Kristoph/Apollo, though it's not the focus. Spoilers for 4-1.


"Oh…?"

Apollo looked up at the sound of the opening door and familiar voice. Kristoph smiled serenely down at him.

"I was going to say 'step into my office', but you seem to have made yourself at home here already."

Despite himself, Apollo felt himself flushing. "Oh, sorry, Mr Gavin, I just…" He cut himself off abruptly, shaking his head.

"Never be ashamed of showing manners, Justice. It's the mark of a gentleman." Kristoph stepped away from the door at last, settling gracefully into the seat across from Apollo and clasping his hands, resting his elbows on the surface between then in the precise same manner he had as long as Apollo had worked for him. "Now then, what can I do for my favourite protégé?"

Apollo coloured still more deeply. "S-sir, I mean, Mr Gavin, please…"

Kristoph chuckled lightly. "Ah, well, if you prefer not to be called that. Though I've never known you to be the bashful sort."

Apollo stared fixedly at his lap.

"Come now. I didn't mean to upset you. Please, though, answer my question. I hate to be so demanding—it's quite rude of me, I realise—but my schedule has never been terribly flexible." Kristoph's smile shifted a little, dipping briefly into an apologetic grimace. "You understand, of course."

"O-of course." Apollo cleared his throat, finally daring to shift his eyes higher. He still found he couldn't meet Kristoph's, though. "I…I needed some advice."

"Oh? Don't tell me that iron confidence is waning now. The thought of tomorrow's trial has you a little shaken, I take it?"

Apollo almost didn't reply, but then he found his head inclining the barest inch. Kristoph's smile morphed once more, his lashes lowering over his eyes and transforming the expression into something softer; soothing, even. Apollo found it much more comforting than he expected, somehow.

"Of course, I would expect nothing less. It's always difficult to see an idol brought so low. Take comfort, though; he did ask for you, personally, after all. Quite the vote of confidence, especially since you're so new to the profession. But that can't be all, can it? This seems a bit excessive, as pre-trial jitters go."

"I…"

When Apollo at last met Kristoph's eyes, he did so over the older man's glasses; had they always been so keen, so fierce, so _blue?_

"You're having doubts, aren't you?" Kristoph's smile turned sad, reflective. "It's a beautiful ideal, Justice—_believe in your client, no matter what._ But we are all of us flawed, and the world judges us on the quality of the mask we wear to hide it." That penetrating regard mercifully released Apollo and drifted towards Kristoph's hands, his varnished nails gleaming as they caught the light. "As a very wise man once said: 'People lie. The evidence doesn't.'"

"Except when it does," Apollo said quietly, the image of another blue-eyed man bright in his mind's eye.

"Lies cannot be blamed for what they are. There is always a human being behind them. Otherwise Phoenix Wright would never have lost his badge." Kristoph tilted his head a little, gazing curiously at Apollo. "…So, I take it from your remarks that it isn't your _client _you doubt."

"I know he didn't do it," Apollo murmurs. "I'm sure of it. He would never do something like this!"

"Hm. Then all you have to do is follow the case, wherever it may lead. If your client is innocent, the evidence won't point to him; if it does, then he must be guilty."

"Evidence is everything in court," Apollo repeated Kristoph's maxim softly.

Kristoph nodded, and this time it was approval that curved his lips. "Evidence is what mars the mask, paints it, cracks it, changes it beyond recognition and bares the marks of sin for all to see. And when the case comes together, the brushstrokes of evidence composing the portrait of a killer, Justice, you must be prepared to see a face you know staring out at you from the canvas."

"Don't you think I know that?" Apollo whispered. Kristoph said nothing, but for the first time since their meeting had begun, all trace of his characteristic gentle smile had left his face and his expression was blank.

It remained that way even when Apollo shot upright and lunged for him, snatching his collar and pulling him forward. _"DON'T YOU THINK I KNOW THAT?"_

"Justice, speaking from the perspective of the head of a law firm, if you intend to throttle me, you should refrain from doing so on company time," Kristoph said in a surprisingly even, mellow tone for a man who'd just been bellowed at by Apollo Justice at point-blank range.

Apollo's eyes widened and he released Kristoph as quickly as if he were a poisonous serpent. Shaking, he tried to take a step back; the backs of his knees hit the edge of his seat and he fell back into his chair, slumped and ill-looking

"I—sir, I didn't mean to—"

Kristoph was the one to lean forward this time, cutting Apollo off with a brush of his fingertips against the young attorney's cheek. "Hush, now. You asked for my advice, and here it is." Their noses were almost touching; Kristoph's hand had worked its way around to the back of Apollo's neck. Apollo's brown eyes were huge now, pupils dilated in something very much like panic, yet he didn't pull away or drop his gaze, utterly hypnotised by Kristoph's intensity.

"You will never find the truth as long as you fear it, Justice. Faith will blind you to the answers; affection will twist ugly realities into beautiful lies. Bury your emotions. Suppress your instincts." His voice softened, first to a loving murmur, then to a murderous hiss. "And if doubt slips in to gnaw at your soul, _let it feast."_

And feast Doubt did, Kristoph's lips capturing Apollo's with a ruthless, ravenous efficiency. Without an instant of hesitation Apollo returned the violent kiss. He seemed seized by a desperate fervor, his hands rising to tangle in Kristoph's blond hair as a quiet moan escaped him. Kristoph laughed when they paused for breath, a soft, sweet sound.

"My, Justice, I'm beginning to wonder—are you truly such a terrible judge of character? I think that perhaps it simply takes a glimpse of the devil to catch your eye. But what have I caught now, Apollo, now that I've given you a _taste?"_

Apollo's eyes had been half-closed before; they went wide at Kristoph's words and he recoiled as if stung.

Or bitten.

Springing out of his chair and pushing Kristoph away, he stared blankly at the man for a moment before turning and nearly running out of the room. Kristoph sighed and shook his head, retreating into his own chair as his placid smile returned.

"I am sorry if he startled you," he said apologetically as the guard came in to return him to his cell. "Students can be so stubborn when it comes to learning new material, you know, especially when it contradicts their own beliefs."

The guard ignored him, of course. All the guards were under strict orders not to talk to him, and only visitors on the approved list were allowed to visit him. It made things very dull, at times. But as the shackles were replaced around his wrists, as he was pushed into the hall and flanked by a second guard, as he was led down the long walk from the visitor's room to the now-barren Solitary Cell 13, his smile never wavered once.

In fact, if he could have seen the way Apollo's stance shifted slightly as he draped the blue GYAXA jacket over his shoulders, the way he stood stiffly at the defense's bench behind a mask of cold professionalism, the way the dauntless Phoenix Wright flinched as Apollo crossed his arms, smiled beatifically, and reminded him that _evidence is everything in court_, Kristoph Gavin would have laughed.

* * *

_**A/N: YES, Kristoph Gavin just quoted Gil Grissom. Who may or may not be real in my AA headcanon. Dealwivvit. *sunglasses*  
**_

_**So the idea was that it would seem like Apollo and Kristoph are meeting in Kristoph's office before Turnabout Trump, and then maybe Apollo's begun to wonder a little about his mentor, but then actually it's Apollo needing to come to Kristoph before The Cosmic Turnabout because I cannot be the only person who saw all. those. parallels. Much like UR-1 and DL-6. That was the idea, anyway, but I'm not sure how it came out because I already knew it was 5-4 not 4-1 and I don't know anyone else who's played all of the games. Eh. That's what reviews are for! Hint. Hint.  
**_

_**Why did Apollo go to Kristoph, of all people? It's kind of hard to explain. A little bit of habit, a little bit of nostalgia, a little bit of self-torment and a whole lot of compartmentalisation. And the yaoi was Kristoph's fault. It just sort of happened, plus it let me hint at Apollo/Athena for great parallelism. Oh well. Hope you enjoyed!  
**_


End file.
